KAUFMAN COUNTY, Texas – The Kaufman County Jail will temporarily house 35 inmates from the Van Zandt County Jail after a security flaw was discovered within the jail, according to Van Zandt County Sheriff Michael Ray.
{loadposition adinsert}
The security compromise was discovered yesterday, June 30, 2014, and the sheriff's Emergency Action Plan was put into action which resulted in the order to transfer the inmates to Kaufman County. A total of 161 inmates are were booked into the jail. 90 inmates were transported to the Henderson County Jail and the remaining female inmates were transported to the Upshur County Jail.
According to Ray, the inmates “discovered a method to compromise the high security locking systems within the facility.” Although the locks were functioning as designed, an engineering flaw was discovered in the mechanisms of the lock which allowed them to be compromised, a facility inspection ultimately determined.
“This issue effected confinement cells in high security sections of the facility as well as ingress and egress access to the building,” according to Ray.
“Obviously we want to get this problem corrected as quickly as possible because of the high cost of outsourcing such a large portion of the inmate population,” stated Ray. “However, my number one priority is the safety and security of our community. We will begin returning the inmates to the jail as soon as we determine that the risk of escape has been mitigated.”
It costs approximately $20 per day to house each inmate at the 196-bed Van Zandt County Jail and it costs approximately $30 per day to house each inmate out of the county.
Officials with the Van Zandt County Sheriff's Office expect the repairs to the locks to take 10 days to two weeks.
Ray attributes the vigilance of the jail staff from deterring a possibly deadly situation had the inmates been able exploit the security flaw. “Because there are many very dangerous inmates currently confined in our county jail, the alertness of jail staff most certainly prevented a very dangerous situation from becoming a potentially deadly situation,” he said.
According to Ray, the inmates “discovered a method to compromise the high security locking systems within the facility.” Although the locks were functioning as designed, an engineering flaw was discovered in the mechanisms of the lock which allowed them to be compromised, a facility inspection ultimately determined.
“This issue effected confinement cells in high security sections of the facility as well as ingress and egress access to the building,” according to Ray.
“Obviously we want to get this problem corrected as quickly as possible because of the high cost of outsourcing such a large portion of the inmate population,” stated Ray. “However, my number one priority is the safety and security of our community. We will begin returning the inmates to the jail as soon as we determine that the risk of escape has been mitigated.”
It costs approximately $20 per day to house each inmate at the 196-bed Van Zandt County Jail and it costs approximately $30 per day to house each inmate out of the county.
Officials with the Van Zandt County Sheriff's Office expect the repairs to the locks to take 10 days to two weeks.
Ray attributes the vigilance of the jail staff from deterring a possibly deadly situation had the inmates been able exploit the security flaw. “Because there are many very dangerous inmates currently confined in our county jail, the alertness of jail staff most certainly prevented a very dangerous situation from becoming a potentially deadly situation,” he said.